Rose Set To Announce Choice Saturday Night

Derrick Rose, DraftExpress #2 player in the class of 2007, has announced that he will make his collegiate decision public Saturday night at 7:00 PM Central in a press conference in his hometown of Chicago. It is widely speculated that Rose will decide between Memphis and Indiana, while in state schools Illinois and Depaul still remain possibilities.

The Chicago native is the most explosive point guard that the high school level has seen in recent memory, owning blinding quickness, a breath taking first step, and jaw dropping leaping ability. Physical attributes aside, he also possesses spectacular court vision and creativity once he gets in to the lane, making him an absolute nightmare for opposing defenders. The only major weakness that Rose has right now is his outside jumpshot. While he is a threat to score from the perimeter at the moment, his jumper lacks consistency and his form could really be cleaned up. Surely, whichever of the four schools he decides upon will have an assistant working with Derrick on that on a daily basis.

Memphis is the school that many insiders have felt Rose will attend since his recruitment began. His brother, Reggie, loves the up and down system that Memphis offers, which his kid brother would absolutely flourish in as a freshman. They have been rumored as Roses leader for quite some time now, and one would have to say that they are the safest bet if guessing where this phenom will attend. It will be interesting to see if the recent draft nightmare that former Memphis guard Darius Washington went through will make Rose reconsider playing for the Tigers, as Caliparis up and down system never really allowed Washington to develop the ability to run a team in a half court setting.

1647Derrick Rose

DraftExpress was told months ago by numerous sources that if Eric Gordon committed to Indiana, Derrick Rose would follow. Gordon will be in Bloomington, and now its time to see if his MeanStreets Express AAU teammate will join him. The two have openly expressed their enjoyment of playing together, and Rose has said that it was a main factor in his consideration of Indiana.

Illinois has jumped back in the mix late, hosting Rose for a late October unofficial visit. One must believe that with Bruce Webers ability to produce NBA guards Deron Williams, Luther Head, and Dee Brown (all of whom were far less talented then Rose coming out of high school), the Rose camp had no choice but to give the Illini a second look.

Depaul has not officially been eliminated yet, although they are on the outside looking in right now, according to most sources familiar with the situation. Obviously it would be intriguing for Derrick to stay at home and play for the home town Blue Demons, and there would be opportunity for him to immediately have the program built around him. Jerry Wainwright has done an excellent job recruiting, landing commitments from top 50 players Nayal Mac Koshwal and Darquarvis Tucker. However, many have speculated that Depaul is not a legitimate possibility any more due to Wainwrights lack of producing NBA players.